


You're My Sun, But She's My Moon

by Sherlockresidue



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Father!Gavin Reed, Gavin's a dad, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-17 10:45:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15459636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sherlockresidue/pseuds/Sherlockresidue
Summary: Post Detroit: Become Human. Gavin Reed is a father, but only his close friends know. Connor finds out and finds himself fascinated with Gavin and his daughter, Luna. She is Gavin's moon.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been thinking about this for a while and couldn't stop myself. Enjoy!

"What the fuck?! You guys are meant to hold onto her! No! Luna can't - no, I fuckin' told you I get off late tonight - Listen here, bitch. I'll be there in twenty minutes. You're only getting paid half!" Connor watches Gavin slam his phone on the desk and put his head in his hands. 

"Trouble in paradise?" Hank says smugly to Connor, though it was more directed towards Gavin. Gavin sneers and for a second Connor's sure he'll have to intervene in a fight, but Gavin slumps down in his chair. Gavin looks desperate and Connor can here his heard rate increase and his breathing come out less and less steady. He considers Gavin's symptoms with a furrowed brow. Whoever he was talking to managed to put Gavin in a state of panic Connor had never seen before, almost in a panic attack. It's unsettling. If there's one thing that's consistent about Gavin Reed, its that he keeps his emotions down and to himself. Therefore, something bad must've really happened. That makes Connor frown. 

"Fuckin' bitch" Gavin mumbles and presses his palms into his eyes. Connor takes this opportunity to stand up and approach Gavin's desk, which is across from his. He and detective Reed don't get along, but Reed does not seem to hate him anymore since the revolution. He still calls Connor derogatory names aimed at Connor being an android, but they have less bite. "What the fuck you want, plastic prick?" Gavin spats, looking up at Connor when he hears the androids heavy footsteps.

"What is wrong, detective?" Connor asks, his face lit with genuine concern. "Who is Luna?" That question makes Gavin look worried, like Connor was threatening him. He wished no harm towards Gavin, but whoever this 'Luna' was is apparently a sensitive topic for the detective. He starts searching through Gavin's files in his head for anyone named Luna, but no one came up. He even backtracked to the times he's overheard him talking to Tina or Chris, but still, no mention of a Luna. Perhaps it was an animal? A dog?

"What the fuck is it to you? You wouldn't do shit for me anyways." Gavin replies, visibly trying to 'keep his cool', as Hank would say. Connor frowns, "What would you like me to do?" Connor sees Hank look at him in question, but Connor ignores him. He's irrationally worried about detective Reed, he knows that, but detective Reed often makes him irrational. Gavin also looks up at him again, squinting as if he can see Connor's supposed ulterior motives on his face if he does it hard enough. Connor also notes that he's hopeful, if the spike in his heart rate and the look on his face is anything to go by.

"I need someone to cover for me for the rest of my shift 'cause Fowler will have my fuckin' ass if he finds out I'm leaving early again. Not that you care, toaster." 

"I would be happy to cover for you, detective. But I must ask again, who is Luna?" Connor asks again. Gavin looks completely torn between jumping up and thanking Connor and telling him to fuck off and that he doesn't need a piece of plastic's help. He's biting his lips a little too hard and Connor's eyes are drawn by the way Gavin's bottom lip turns a darker shade of red. Connor looks away quickly when he realizes what he's doing though, his cheeks turning a little blue. He often caught himself looking at Gavin, no matter if the man was chewing on the end of his pen and his tongue poked out slightly, or he was drinking coffee when he first came in for work in the morning, or if he was interrogating some criminal he'd caught. No matter what, Connor always found himself watching the man with rapt attention. It was a habit that was hard to break, and Connor found himself reluctant to attempt to break it. Perhaps the same reason he watches Reed is responsible for why he felt so compelled to offer him help.

Gavin finally cracks. "Fine, asshole. Meet me by my car in two minutes, got it? If you're not there I'll take off." Gavin huffs, getting up out of his chair and knocking his shoulder into Connor's, causing the android to stumble slightly. Connor just stands there for a few moments, watching the man leave the station. He turns back to Hank, who's looking at him with the same look he'd given him the first time Connor analyzed blood at a crime scene. 

"Wha' the fuck was that, Connor?" Hank asks, leaning back in his chair and staring at Connor in a way that said _I see something you don't but I won't tell you because you need to grow up_. It was unnerving. 

"I do not know, Hank." Connor says honestly. "I do intend to 'get to the bottom of it' though, as you would say."

__

When Connor approaches Gavin's old pick up truck, he watches as the man wrings his hands together, mumbling incoherent sentences that even Connor's advanced hearing can't make out. Gavin looks up at him and immediatley scowls, grabbing Connor by the collar of his black button-up, slamming the androids back into the car. It makes Connor wince. He had gotten updates to make him more human, such as 'blushing', and added more sensory sensors. He can feel the handle of the truck dig into his side and the cool metal through his shirt. 

"Listen here, fuckhead. I don't know why you want to know so bad or what you're gonna do when you find out, but fuck you. Luna is my fuckin' nine year old daughter and if you so much as lay one of your fake plastic fingers in her hair, I'll rip your thirium pump out and feed it to Lieutenant Hardass in there, got it? I'll fuckin' kill you, I swear to God." He punctuates his sentences with a pull-and-shove back into the car door, each time making Connor's head knock into the metal. He's thankful that he doesn't have as many pain reciptors as a human, or else he's sure he'd be in greater pain. Gavin's eyes look passionate like fire, his teeth gritted together and his fists balling in the material of Connor's shirt. They stand there for a few minutes, Connor unable to stop himself from noticing how their bodies were pressed together and how close Gavin's face was from his. Gavin was huffing breaths, trying to take in air after rambling and exerting force to slam Connor. Gavin, after a few moments, seems to realize what position they're in and the glazed over stare Connor's looking at him with, because his eyes go wide and he pushes off of him, mumbling something to himself and raking his hands through his messy hair. 

"Look, uh, thanks for covering me, okay? I... appreciate it, I really do. But I don't owe you jack shit, got it? And don't fuckin' tell anyone about Luna. I'm not sure if you get how much I love her and how I'd tear you apart if anything happened to her because of you." Gavin says, and Connor can see his hands shaking. Connor wants to say he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his daughter. That he understands the emotion 'love' now, that he won't tell anyone.

That Gavin can trust him.

But he's frozen and can barely move out of the way so Gavin doesn't run over his foot when he drives away. Connor stands in the parking lot for six minutes and thirty-three seconds before remembering that he had to cover for Gavin, and that he didn't want Gavin getting in trouble. Perhaps he can even do some of the detective's paperwork since Connor is all caught up with his and make it seem as if Gavin never left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its the next day and Gavin is freaking the fuck out.

"Fuck!" Gavin curses as he burns his wrist on the stove, trying to get together Luna's breakfast. Luna yells something like "Auntie Tina says not to say that around me" from the living room, where she sits with their three cats, watching TV and going through her homework, double-checking for mistakes like Gavin taught her. He's stupid as shit, but he'll be damned if he lets Luna turn out like the pathetic excuse he is. He ignores the burn and slides the eggs onto a plate, walking over to the couch to hand to Luna, who grabs it without really paying attention and mumbling a quiet 'thank you'. 

"Hurry up and eat, Lu. Dad's gonna get fired if he's late." Gavin says impatiently and Luna giggles at him talking in third person, shoving her eggs into her mouth as Gavin turns off the TV and pulls the blinds closed. He hisses when he bumps the burn against the TV and looks at the clock, wishing he had time to at least put cold water on it. Luna puts the plate in the over-stacked sink and puts on her backpack, looking cute as ever. She's got his eye colour, a dull grey that somehow stands out on her, and dark-brown almost-black hair, with tan skin. She's adorable and Gavin can't resist the urge to kiss her forehead. 

"Remember, Tina is gonna pick you up from school, okay? No more of that shitty babysitter." Gavin reminds her.

"But Sarah was nice!"

"Sarah doesn't know how to fuckin' do her job right, kiddo. Now lets go."

__

When Gavin arrives at the station, he can't help but feel like everyone's staring at him. That's why he shoves past everyone to get to the coffee maker, jumping about a foot when a hand lands on his shoulder. He's ready to yell and get into a possible fist-fight when he turns around, only seeing Tina's and Chris' concerned faces. Gavin's expression softens, and he looks around to make sure no one else is there. They're alone. 

"I'm so sorry, Gav! I was on a case and I wish I was there to help--" Tina starts fussing, looking so worried that it makes Gavin's chest tighten. Tina is like a mom for Luna and its good to know she loves her. "Tina, its fine. I know." He tells her. Chris looks guilty.

"You should've told me man, I could've--"

"Chris, you've missed enough of your son's life already. It was fine. Like I said, I got it handled. It's fine now." Gavin says and immediately hopes that they don't press him for details. Having to admit he practically forced Connor to help him AND that now Connor knew about Luna was something he'd been thinking about all night. The android helped him out, and it made him feel like he owed him-it - fuck it, - him something even though he made it very clear that he didn't. If Connor told Anderson, he's fucked. Anderson would probably do nothing since he's got a dead kid, but Gavin doubts that Anderson wouldn't use it to insult him or make him do something. 

Tina doesn't miss the worried look in his eyes. "And how exactly did you handle it? You obviously didn't just leave." Sometimes, Gavin wishes he kept some things to himself. 

"I, uh..." It's not like they'd fault him for telling Connor. Hell, they like Connor now. But Gavin can't bring himself to say it. Connor and him have been passive-aggressive towards each other since the revolution, and saying something that had definitely changed their relationship, even if it was a tiny modification, scared the fuck out of him. People left Gavin alone because he was an asshole, and he needed it that way (and not just for Luna's sake). If he told Tina, Tina would probably think they're all best buds and force him to hang out with Connor. And if he hung out with Connor, people would probably talk to him more. While the idea of having friends besides Tina and Chris were nice, he's to emotionally stunted to be able to actually pull it off.

"Hello, Detective Reed," Suddenly, Connor's next to the group, making coffee. "Tina, Chris." Connor nods at them. _Is everyone on first name basis with Connor except me?_ Connor's probably getting coffee for Anderson, since he can't drink himself. (After te revolution, Gavin had tried to give him coffee and some sort of peace-offering. The android informed him that he couldn't consume liquids, but he appreciated the sentiment. It had only pissed Gavin off.)

"Hey tin can" It must've sounded too forced because Chris and Tina exchange looks. Connor's LED flashes yellow for a second, before turning back to the calming blue as usual. Gavin doesn't understand why he - it -whatever doesn't just take it out like most of the other androids. "I assume you got home safely?" Connor asks and Gavin can feel his whole face flush. _Jesus fuck, he has no clue how that sounds, does he?_ Tina and Chris exchange looks and he can see the big grins on their faces from the corner og his eye. He's focused on the spot right above Connor's shoulder. He's so close to yelling and saying shit he doesn't mean about Connor, but he swallows down his pride. Connor helped him, after all.

"Fuckin' obviously." Gavin says and watches as Connor's lips quirk slightly in a way that makes Gavin feel lightheaded. Did Connor just... _smile_ at him? What the fuck?

Connor says his goodbyes and trots off, looking way too pleased for someone who had a short conversation in which they get insulted. The three watch him leave, and once he's out of earshot, Tina whips around to stare at Gavin.

"You told him about Luna, didn't you?!"

"He actually helped you even though you're an asshole." Chris joins in.

"And you didn't immediately tell him to fuck off when he started talking to you!"

"Wow, you actually talked to your crush without hurting him or spontaneously combustion."

"Has he seen Luna yet?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, guys," Gavin says and puts a hand up to stop Tina's and Chris' questions. "You're acting like me and that toaster are friends now. He just helped me out, okay? End of story. Probably won't even happen again." 

__

It did, indeed, happen again. Four other times, in fact. The second and third time it happened, Gavin was just as threatening as he had been the first, afraid that Connor would come back and bite him in the ass. The fourth and fifth time, he had just walked up to the android's desk with a slightly apologetic and sheepish expression and just asked. Connor always smiled brightly and said yes, his LED whirring yellow every time. Gavin had no clue what that meant but he was thankful. This was the sixth time he had to ask Connor for help, except he wasn't the one leaving.

"Look, you don't even have to go in, I just need you to take the bus and bring her to my apartment, she'll know where to go. She also knows how to shoot a gun, so if you hurt her she'll fry your plastic ass. Connor, I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to-"

"I will pick Luna up from school, Gavin. Don't worry." Connor said, face turning a little blue at Gavin calling him by his name. Gavin seemed to be having trouble managing his schedule and Luna's, considering how often Gavin had asked him for help this month. Gavin, as he explained, wasn't able to pick her up from the after school program at six because he'd gotten called on a crime scene and was still there. Chris obviously couldn't either, considering that he was a responding officer, and Tina had taken the day off to visit her parents, and Gavin didn't want to bother her. 

"Thanks, Connor I- I really appreciate this." Gavin says quickly before hanging up. Connor smiles and hangs up on his desk phone (the phone was unnecessary since Connor's phone was in his head, but Hank insisted that he'd need a phone for work calls). Connor glances at the clock. _5:28pm_. He would ask Hank to drive him, but Gavin seemed to be keeping Luna hidden away from the others. Speaking of Hank, Hank turns to look over the glass barrier separating their cubicles. 

"Why the fuck're you talkin' to Reed?" Hank asks incredulously. Connor fumbles and jerks his head towards Hank, already stuttering. 

"I-I um, Detective Reed has asked me to do him a favour. I've got to go now, please inform Captain Fowler I am on a 'lunch' break." Connor quickly gets up and grabs his overcoat, practically sprinting to escape Hank's questions calling after him.

Luckily, the 5:30 bus is still there by the time Connor gets to the stop. He steps on, getting a disturbed look from an older woman who immediately spots his LED, clamping her mouth shut to keep herself from telling him that he can't be in this compartment. Buses have gotten rid of the segregated spaces and just made it into extra seating space since the revolution. He bravely seats himself in one of the front seats, ignoring the few people in the bus that whisper and look at each other. There's another android who's sitting in the back. She smiles weakly at him. Clearly, she was more afraid than him of the humans. Despite recognizing him from the news, she just bows her head gratefully and remains where she is. 

It's 5:48pm by the time the bus arrives at the closest stop to the school. He swiftly gets off the bus and looks around for the school. He recognizes it as one of the best public elementary schools in Detroit. It's on the opposite side of town from Gavin's apartment. 

He walks in and spots an android at the front desk. "Hello, I'm here to pick up Luna Reed?" He says, frowning slightly at her. She's got bobbed brown hair and dark eyes, and is very clearly not deviant. It's a little unsettling. Is that how he seemed to the humans at first? So unmistakably... lifeless? She smiles at him without any emotion. 

"Mr.Reed called about you earlier. She's right this way." She says, leading him through a door where a couple of kids are scattered around on stiff chairs. He scans around in search of Luna, and finding that the little girl smirking at him with eyes like Gavin's is her. She seems to carry herself even like Gavin, approaching him fearlessly unlike other children have in the past and holding out her hand for him to shake. 

"You must be Dad's friend! I'm Luna Reed, and you are?" Luna asks, shaking his hand enthusiastically when he touches hers. She makes him smile. "I am Connor, Detective Reeds coworker."

"I've never actually _talked_ to a deviant who didn't try to kill my dad before! You seem nice. Dad talks about you a lot." Connor's smile drops for a moment. He doubts anything Gavin would say to his daughter about him would be positive. But if it wasn't, he doesn't think she'd seem so pleased to meet him beyond the fact that he's an android. "He said I can stab you with my pocket knife if you hurt me, by the way. You don't seem like you'd be a threat, though." She practically giggles, already leading the way out of the office. _Pocket knife?!_

They get on the six o'clock bus, Luna squinting at him now and then. Connor watches her out of the corner of his view. She has Gavin's eyes and a little bit of his hair, but besides that, that's all about it when it comes to physical features. But the way she carries herself and talks heavily reminds him of Gavin. She's not rude, but radiates confidence. Judging by their conversation earlier, she also is very independent, since she didn't deny she'd stab him if he did anything. When they get on the bus, she starts talking again. 

"We watched you on the news once. You helped all those androids. You've also been helping Dad pick me up." Luna says quietly and turns her head towards Connor, squinting a little. "What does he owe you?"

Connor sits there, lips parted, a little taken aback. Her face displays no emotions and he suddenly feels as if he's getting interrogated by Detective Reed himself. Connor forces himself to swallow and smile. "He doesn't owe me anything. Detective Reed has not only made that very clear, but I also do not want anything from him. I simply want to be... friends with him. I am sure you are aware he and I didn't talk before this."

Luna nods. "He complained about you a lot. He once let it slip that he tried to force you to make him coffee." Connor grimaces at the memory. 

"Yes, he did. I have nothing to gain from helping you besides his trust, hopefully." Connor adds. Luna seems satisfied with that answer because she relaxes, opening her backpack. She pulls out a shiny pocket knife with her name engraved on it, moons on the hilt. She grins up at him. "Wanna hold it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/). Please come and give me feedback or just talk to me. I'll be filling up my page soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luna and Gavin talk about Connor.

When Gavin finally comes home at twelve past midnight, he almost rips his door off the hinges to get inside and see if Luna was okay. She had called him when she got home and chattered about school, but a call could've been easily faked (even though at the back of his mind, he knew he was being irrational). Luna's asleep on the couch in her tiger pajamas, homework and an empty plate on the coffee table. Gavin grins and sits down next to her, causing her to shift. One of her eyes open and she's clearly feigning sleep. "I know you're not sleeping, Lu."

"But Daaaad!" Luna complains burying her face in the sofa arm. Gavin snickers and picks up the plate. 

"Get up and help me wash the dishes." She reluctantly rises when he does, walking behind the couch and into the kitchen. He washes the dishes while she dries them, putting them wherever they belong in the cupboards. Their kitchen is small and in the same room as the living room, unseparated besides the carpet turning into tile. Luna's small drawings litter the fridge door, some of animals, some of nature, some of them. Gavin loves each and every one of them and he can't help but smile when he sees them. Luna side-glances at him before standing on her tip-toes to reach the cupboard above them.

"He seems nice." She starts, watching his reaction closely. Gavin frowns slightly. 

"How was the ride home?"

"Great! I told him about school, but he didn't know much, so I _explained_ it to him!" She says triumphantly, "I even let him hold the knife! He said it was pretty." Luna adds for extra measure. Gavin laughs at her enthusiasm. She's always been a ball of energy.

"Never give your enemy your weapon, Luna. They'll use it against you." Gavin says as he turns off the faucet, letting Luna gather up all the cups that go in the highest shelf before hoisting her up and putting her on the counter, holding onto her while she fills the cupboard. He can see her frown at his words. "He didn't seem like an enemy." Luna lets Gavin pick her up and put her gently back down on the floor. She doesn't let him straighten back to full height though, grabbing him by his shoulders so that they're face-to-face. She always does this when she wants to tell him something. 

"He wants to be your friend, Dad. He told me." She says softly, because she knows Gavin better than anybody else in the world, and she knows that he doesn't like people very much, and at the very least, not _androids_. Gavin scowls and, thinking that's then end of the conversation, tries to straighten up again, but Luna doesn't let go. "I think he needs more friends, Dad. And I think you do too." Her eyes are wide and she looks worried. It's the first time Gavin's ever seen her so concerned. So he pulls her in tight for a hug and ignores her wavy hair tickling his face, squeezing her tight. She does the same. They don't say anything for a couple minutes, just the two of them in the kitchen, Gavin on his knees to hug her and Luna's face buried in his shoulder.

When Gavin finally puls away, he sees that she's teary-eyed like he is. "You don't need to worry about me, Lu. I'm fine. I have Tina and Chris." She doesn't look convinced. 

"If it'll make you feel better, I'll be more... _friendly_ with the ti- uh, Connor. But you've gotta promise not to keep things like this to yourself, okay? You've gotta tell me when you're worrying yourself sick." Gavin says and offers his hand to the little girl. "Deal?"

She smiles widely and shakes his hand. "Deal!"

\--

The next day, Gavin already regrets that little deal he made.

Anderson was assigned to do a case alone, so Connor was reassigned as Gavin's temporary partner. They were sent to investigate the murder of sixteen year old Lilith Moore's parents, Brooke and Mark Moore. She killed her parents and took the younger brother, fleeing the scene. The thing was: Lilith is one of those kid-androids. The only android in the family too. Connor obviously couldn't investigate the scene alone (the relatives of the family would probably freak out), and Gavin wasn't exactly good at _talking_ to people, so it was a good match. 

Except that Gavin was going to try to avoid Connor until he got his feelings and shit sorted out. His little (big) crush on Connor had spiraled out of control, especially since Luna likes him. Anyone Luna liked, Gavin liked. However, anyone she didn't like, well, Gavin would find any way to raise hell on them. He once got a kid expelled for pushing Luna into the mud (he had used his badge to make them more compelled to expel the kid). As soon as he had walked into the station, Connor chattered away about the case.

Now he was driving his truck towards the crime scene, Connor at his side, fiddling with the broken radio. The radio was shit and only played static, but Connor seemed determined to flip through every single fucking channel there was to see if they worked. When Gavin scowled at him and turned of the radio himself, the android must've realized Gavin wasn't in the mood to be civil, and looked at the raindrops racing down his side's car window. Gavin felt a little bad for ruining his fun. 

When they arrived, the aunt and uncle of the culprit were outside the house, crying. As expected, the moment they saw Connor's LED, the women jumped up and let out a sad, pathetic, shrill sound. Connor stepped back as she stepped towards them, his LED whirring yellow and red. She was about to get in Connor's face before Gavin held a hand up. "Ma'am, I know this is hard, but I'm going to need you to not let this situation stop you from cooperating with _us_ fully." Gavin says in the most professional voice he could muster. She glanced at him, teary-eyed.

"You can't let this... _thing_ near my sister! All of the androids are out to get rid of us! You're human! Please! Anything but _that!_ " She's sobbing now and he husbands joined, wrapping his arms around her and looking at Gavin as if he's really meant to not let Connor in. 

"I'm afraid I can and I will. Let's go, Connor." It feels weird, Connor's name in his mouth, but he does it just to fuck with the woman. Yeah, it's pretty cruel, but if they want anything to be done quickly, they need Connor on the scene (though Gavin would never admit it out loud, much less to the android himself). He starts walking into the house, leaving the three of them behind. Connor catches up to him and the sobs grow louder outside, making Gavin wince. 

"Thank you, Detective Reed. I am unsure of how I would've handles the situation without you." Connor admits sheepishly, looking at Gavin with so much genuine thankfulness that it makes his heart swell. He tries to shake the feeling and forces his face to stop turning so damn red. 

"Call me Gavin. You've met my kid, so might as well." Gavin says hastily. Connor's face brightens even more, his face splitting into a smile. 

"Thank you, Gavin." Gavin snorts and they walk up the stairs to the foyer, where Brooke and Mark Moore are in bed, stabbed to death. Their pristine white bed sheets are covered in blood. Brooke's upper half is hanging off the end of the bed. It looks like she tried to crawl awa, but to no avail. Mark, however, is face down with the sheets over him, his neck and back stabbed multiple times. He turns his attention towards his attention to the group of responding officers talking quietly amongst themselves as forensics clears out to let them take a look at the bodies. Upon noticing the two, an older officer turns around and grimaces slightly. Connor wanders off while he talks to them. 

"So, what the hell happened?" Gavin asks, sizing up the policemen. The guy he's talking to looks like he's not much of an asset. The other two, both women, look like they would like to strangle the man. It makes Gavin smirk as his eyes flicker from them back to the officer in front of him.

"Isn't that what you and that toy are here for?" The officer says, earning an eye roll from the two policewomen and Gavin. Is that how he sounded while insulting Connor? Nah, he couldn't have (he kinda did).

"You know what I fuckin' mean," Gavin looks down at his name tag, "Officer Dowey." 

One of the women pipe up, "The neighbours were worried when they didn't answer the door for their weekly get together, so they looked in the windows. They saw that it was a mess and called the police. The murderer is presumed to be Lilith Moore, since there are no fingerprints and no one witnessed anyone coming in or out that wasn't the family. She took Myers, the little boy, too." Gavin tries to let his appreciation show on his face in the form of a smile, but he's sure it looks odd and misplaced on his face. 

"Thank you, uh, Officer Carson. My, er, partner and I will take over from here." Gavin thanks them and turns around, expecting to see Connor standing around, but instead he catches an eyeful of Connor scooping up some of Brooke's blood and licking it. It was probably the most disgusting, erotic thing Gavin's ever seen and it takes all of his might to not get hard right then and there. 

"What the fuck are you doing, tin-can?!" Gavin yells and rips Connor's hand away. Connor looks up at him in surprise, but soon it melts into mild embarrassment. "I apologize, Detective. I analyze fluids like this to find out what is in it. I realize that it tends to make humans uncomfortable, so I apologize." Connor explains and stands up, and Gavin immediately misses Connor being on his knees. For the reason of feeling taller than the android, of course. But now he has to look up to meet his eyes again and it's incredibly intimidating.

"I told you to call me Gavin, dumbass." Gavin says, trying to wipe the memory of Connor, on his knees, with his own fingers in his mouth, or at least file it away until he's in his bedroom and Luna is asleep. Connor raises an eyebrow and Gavin gets the feeling he learned that from him. 

"This is a professional environment, Detective." Connor points out.

"Professional my ass, you just had your fingers in your own damn mouth." Gavin replies and stalks out of the bedroom, deciding to look around anywhere Connor isn't.

__

Its ten and they're still at the crime scene. Gavin thought it wouldn't take this long with Connor here, with his android-ness and such (not that Gavin can't handle an investigation on his own). 

"I've gotta pick Luna up from Tina's, I've got to go." He says, grabbing Connor's attention from where he was looking through the Moore's pantry. Connor backs out of the pantry and closes the door ( _who the fuck has a door on their pantry?!_ ) and turns to Gavin, his teeth worrying his bottom lip. It was an attractive habit he seemed to pick up. Annoying. Not attractive, annoying. 

"Detective, I believe we should go over the details of this investion and where we believe we should look next so tomorrow we can go straight to locations instead of waiting, because this could be a hostage case." Connor says. "This my be imposing on you, but I believe we should talk further at your apartment, if you're willing to let me back there." Gavin's eyes widen and he curses himself. Of course they need to go over this. A kid has been kidnapped, every second counts. He pushes his palms into his eyes and nods his head unwillingly. 

"Fine, sure." Gavin says and leads the way out of this depressing house. Connor's LED is whirring the whole time, flashing yellow. It's as if he's on autopilot, the awkward way he climbs into the car, sitting with his back ram-rod straight. _Maybe he's going over the evidence?_ He thinks, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway. The aunt and uncle from earlier cleared out an hour or so ago, and he was thankful that he didn't have to save Connor's ass again.

The drive was only six minutes from the house to Tina's, but it felt like forever. He kept sneaking glances at Connor, only to find the android deep in thought, the soft yellow glow seemingly permanent, at least for now. At one point he'd been looking at him too long and Gavin must've gone a bit out of lane because there was a loud honk from a car zooming past (Connor didn't seem to notice). 

Eventually they got to Tina's house and he pulled up on the curb. After a moment of staring at Connor, he pushed Connor. "Wake up, dipshit. Luna will think your batteries ran out and decide to dissect you. Stay here." That seems to lull the android out of his stupor, because Connor looks at him and smiles softly. Gavin's gut wrenches and he gets out of the car, slamming the door shut and taking the stairs up to Tina's door two at a time. He holds down the doorbell until Tina comes to the door, Luna with her fingers in her ears. 

"You asshole! My ears are still ringing and the dogs are going crazy!" Tina scolds when she answers the door, pointing an accusing finger at him whole the other is ruffling Luna's hair. Luna's got her black backpack on and holding her jacket, a bid, wide grin on her face. She hugs Gavin, her face just reaching his stomach. Gavin hugs her back the best way he could from normal height. She pulls back with a more smug smile.

"Who's that in the car, Dad?" Luna asks, looking innocent to the outside world but Gavin's face flushes, knowing she already knows the answer. 

"Get in the car, kiddo. Don't take him apart, he's not dead, just out of it." He nudges her down the walkway and she goes running towards the car, opening the car door, and he can hear Luna already chattering away to Connor. Gavin turns back to Tina, who's looking just as smug as Luna. 

"Connor, huh?" She asks, sipping some of the beer in her hand. 

"Shut the fuck up. We're gonna go over a case at my place 'cause we're on a time crunch."

"Hm, going over a case?" She says slyly. Gavin punches her arm playfully. "Thanks, Tina. Was she good?"

"As always. Tell Connor I said goodnight, okay? And even though he's and android doesn't mean anything; wear a condom." Tina says, snickering and closing the door in his face before he could yell at her. Gavin huffs and walks down to the car, making a mental note to yell at her tomorrow. 

"-and then she just poured the soup down her shirt! Oh, hi Dad! I was just telling Connor about lunch today." Luna says excitedly when he gets in the car, gesturing for her to put on her seat belt. She obediently does, her backpack sitting on the seat next to her. 

Gavin chuckles and looks at Connor, who's smiling softly and looks like he's been put through a whirlwind. Knowing Luna, he probably has. "It's Mister until they tell you otherwise." Gavin chides and pulls off of the sidewalk, driving towards their apartment. 

"Mister Connor, can I call you Connor?" Luna asks politely. Connor looks at her with a grin. 

"Of course, Luna."

Gavin groans and bangs his head momentarily against the steering wheel. "You two will be the death of me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got no clue how to link my AO3 through my tumblr, so if anyone knows please help me. I was told its the same way you link tumblr here, but it doesn't seem to work. My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/). Please talk to me, I need friends. Or don't and at least come and give me feedback.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Connor go over the Moore case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know a lot about crime but I tried. Also, fair warning, wet dreams happen. You'll know when it does and you can skip it or not, it's really not that important but I'm a horrible person and a sucker for porn. It's not even impressive or that much, but I felt inclined to add it.

"Go to bed and I'll be right there, Lu. Give me a minute." Gavin says as he locks his apartment door behind Connor, who's LED is whirring yellow again as he takes in the room. Gavin suddenly feels really self-conscious. The couch has stains from Luna wreaking havoc when she was younger, their TV is a bit on the older and smaller side, and the carpets old and ragged. The kitchen is a bit of a mess too, dishes from this morning piled into the sink, the tiles on the floor and counter are a little more grey than their normal white, grimy and scratched.

He rushes over to clear off the coffee tale (the only table in their whole goddamned apartment), putting their empty cups into the sink and Luna's random papers filled with schoolwork to drawings. Connor watches him with a soft smile, seating himself on their dark green couch. "Er, sorry, we'll have to work here." Gavin says, gesturing to the table. 

"This is fine. Hank used to have me work on a chair in the corner until we got a new table and couch, since termites infected them both." Connor says and looks at him reassuringly. Gavin tries his best to smile back, and surprisingly, its not that hard. "I've gotta say goodnight to Luna, I'll be back out in a sec. Touch anything and I'll let her take you apart for her science project." Gavin threatens and turns down the hall. Luna's door is wide open, only a small nightlight on. Periwinkle, the newest cat in their family, is sitting above her head, purring softly as she strokes his soft fur. The two other cats, Baker and Murder (guess which one Gavin named), sleep with Gavin. He's got two little beds for them on the floor, but somehow they always end up back on his bed. 

He sits down at the foot of her bed and ruffles her hair with one hand, the other scratching behind Periwinkle's ears. Luna pulls him into a hug, whispering, "Goodnight, Dad. Have fun with Connor." Gavin smiles at her and kisses her forehead, smoothing out the covers.

"'Night, Lu. Sleep well, and get me if you need me." Gavin takes one last look at her before closing the door gently behind him.

__

Connor doesn't know what happened. One minute, he was sitting on the couch, deciding what discoveries he should bring up first about the crime scene, and the next minute there were two furry things latched onto either side of him. His LED turned red and he sat extremely still, looking down slowly. He laughs when he realizes the 'things' are two cats, one black with a little red on its head and paws, the other white and grey. He scans them an finds out the first one's name is Murder, male - which predominately a 'Tortoiseshell'- and the other one is named Baker, also male - which is too mixed to pin down to one breed. The cats are just sitting on either sides of his thighs, Baker purring while Murder seems to only take interest in his jacket, pushing it's paws into it. 

He slowly puts his hand on Baker's back and pets him one the purring grows louder. He doesn't dare touch Murder - Connor has seen cat scratches up and down Gavin's hands and going up his arm, and there must be truth in the name 'Murder'. Connor sits there, happily petting Baker and letting Murder do whatever he's doing with his jacket, until Gavin comes out of Luna's room. He looks... soft. His lips are pulled into a small smile and his eyes expression doesn't seem so guarded. Connor flushes blue when Gavin meets his eyes, but he doesn't break eye-contact. Neither of them do for a moment. 

But then Gavin looks away and Connor can see the walls build back up.

Connor scrambles to try to stop it. "I- I didn't know you had two cats." Connor says quickly, gesturing to the fur balls on his shoulder and thigh. Gavin chuckles and grabs Murder off of his shoulder, cradling him like one would do to a baby. 

"Three, actually. I had this one, Murder, before Luna. Luna loves them just as much as I do and soon we got Baker, the one your petting, and a couple months ago I got her Periwinkle as a surprise." He picks up baker with his other hand and set him in Connor's lap, Murder on the armrest by Gavin. Connor doesn't tell him that he already knew their names because he knows it'd probably 'freak' Gavin out. Besides, Gavin already looks uncomfortable. "Let's start, yeah?"

"Yes. Brooke Moore - age 43 - was stabbed seventeen times and then smothered to death when their android daughter Lilith Moore - modeled to be sixteen - held her face-down on the bed. Mark Moore - age 45 - was stabbed nineteen times, but in his sleep. Lilith stabbed him four times to 'get the job done', stabbed her mother six times, and then eleven more times when she tried to crawl away. After smothering her, she moved back on to Mark. She stabbed him another fifteen times to make sure he was dead, leaving the eight-inch knife in his skull and fleeing. Judging by the blood smears, she then made her way to six year old Myers Moore's, waking him up from bed and leaving the house at approximately 1:32am. There were no signs of struggle with Myers, and I do not think she will harm him if we do not scare her." Connor explains. Gavin stares at him. 

"How the fuck did you figure out those details?"

"It is my job to reconstruct crime scenes using all of the evidence." Gavin rolls his eyes and rubs his face, pulling open his laptop and making a list marked 'Dipshit's Ideas'. Gavin turns back to him. 

"What do you mean if we don't scare her, she won't hurt the kid? I know you've had a hostage situation with a kid before, but just 'cause he's six doesn't mean she hasn't already killed him." Gavin argues and Connor feels a little hurt. He thought they'd gotten over the android thing, but Gavin's implying she lacks the emotional capability to care about Myers.

"I do not believe this is a hostage situation, Detective. Even though she is an android, I assure you--"

"Who said anything about her being an android? I don't give a fuck if she's an alien from another fuckin' planet. Human or not, some people just don't care about anyone. Trust me." Gavin says, his heart rate speeding up and he's scowling, looking 'far away-ish', as Hank would say. Connor lets out a soft 'oh' and he's only dimly aware that his LED is whirring yellow. 

"Anyways," Gavin clears his throat, "I've been thinking about where she could go, and turns out that she has a friend, Cynthia Boran or some shit, who she went to school with. She's human and if anything I read is to go by, they're in 'love'. I fuckin' bet they ran to her house." Connor frowns.

"I did not find any evidence of anyone named Cynthia Boran at the Moore house."

"Well, maybe you didn't look hard enough, shithead. I know where to look for secrets because I have my fuckin' own. There was a key taped to the bottom of her desk and in her mattress there was a lockbox. Popped that shit open and found a diary with an entry for every day she's been with them. Skipped around a bit and seven months ago a new girl arrived at her school, which was Cynthia. Long story short, there are many pages describing her tits and, while its hard to tell because she doesn't ever explicitly mention a relationship, but I'm pretty sure they're girlfriends." Gavin explains and Connor adds 'under the desk' and 'in mattress' to his list of places to look when investigating a crime scene. He doesn't miss the odd looks that comes over Gavin's face when he was talking about secrets, but decides not to bring it up.

"I'm impressed, Detective. I've never had someone find something that I could not." Connor says and smirks when Gavin flushes and rubs his neck at the praise. 

"Yeah, well, you're not all that, tin-can."

"I did find, however, that she works at a local restaurant called 'Coffee and Tears'. They are unaware that she is an android because they paid her. I believe we should go there and find out more about her before we track down Cynthia. You are right, this could be more sensitive then I previously thought." Connor admits, listening to Gavin type away. He's probably already outlining their report on the Moore's case. "I can do that faster using my 'computer brain', as I believe you and Hank have called it." 

"No way in hell, plastic. This is my case too, I'm not gonna let you do everything." Gavin says and continues typing for another ten minutes. Connor looks around awkwardly, still petting Baker.

"May I turn on the TV?" He asks. Hank would always have it on and Connor found it stimulating, especially since he liked constructing a theoretical way of who and how they would win in his head. Gavin nods distractedly and Connor grabs the remote from the coffee table, flipping through the channels until he finds the basketball channel. A few minutes pass and Connor's already deeply theorizing what players foot will go where when the sound of Gavin shutting his computer snaps him out of it. 

Gavin looks ahead at what they're watching and grimaces. "You like basketball?"

"Hank mostly watches basketball, and I find it stimulating." Connor defends, looking ahead again. 

Maybe this should be awkward. Maybe it is awkward and Connor doesn't notice because he's not entirely sure what 'awkward' feels like. But to him, its not. The comfortable silence besides the TV noise settles over them, and at some point Gavin ends up closer to him, mumbling about Murder making a fuss about him being in his space. His heart rate is slowing and when Connor tears his eyes away from the screen, Gavin's eyelids are drooping and he's slowly getting closer, his head lulling closer to Connor's shoulder. Connor doesn't say anything when Gavin's head rests on his shoulder and he starts breathing softly.

Is Gavin aware he's doing this? Would he still have does this if he wasn't sleep deprived? Did he even realize that this was Connor, an android?

Forty minutes later, when the game has ended and Connor's sure Gavin is in REM sleep, he carefully picks up the remote, causing Baker to meow and settle himself on the coffee table instead. He turns off the TV and puts himself into his own 'sleep' mode, setting his internal clock for five am. That should give him enough time to go back to Hank's, change, and get to the station twenty minutes early. Hank. He forgot to call Hank, didn't he? It's too late now though. Hopefully Hank won't be too upset...

__

_He's panting, arching up into him and Gavin moans at the look on Connor's face. Connor grabs him by his hair and pulls him down, plunging his tongue in Gavin's mouth. His mouth is warm, warmer than a persons and suddenly he's pulling away, squirming, trying to get leverage on Gavin and Gavin only watches his perfectly toned body writhe against him. "G-Gavin! Please!" Connor moans, and Gavin realizes that he's got Connor spread on his fingers._

__

_He grins and leans down to bite at Connor' neck, even though he's sure that marks won't stick. But the moaning it gets him as he bites down and pushes his fingers deeper to find the spot that makes the android cry out and grip his shoulders harder. Connor's biting his own hand and drawing a little thirium to keep himself quiet. "Shh, baby, don't wanna wake Luna up or else I'll have to leave you like this." Gavin reminds Connor and twists his fingers up. Connor's eyes go wide and he shakes his head, mumbling behind his hand, "I'll be quiet I- please don't stop!"_

_Gavin grins and twists his fingers again, other hand sneaking up to wrap around Connor's ridiculously perfect cock, stroking him hard and fast as he fingers him. "You're so fucking hot, Con." Connor shivers and cries out, fingers digging into Gavin's skin as he came, fake cum coating their stomachs. Connor seems shaken, his LED glowing red. Gavin chuckles when Connor seems to reboot, his eyes widening up at Gavin. Suddenly hands are on Gavin's belt and pushing him back, flipping their positions. There's a hot mouth on his neck and a hand on his cock--_

 

Gavin wakes up to the sound of feet with a start, jerking awake and nearly falling off the couch and hitting his head on the coffee table. Cursing and rubbing his cheek, he looks over to see Luna slowly walking down the hall, still wrapped up in a blanket. Gavin smiles. He must've subconsciously recognized the sound of her footsteps, like how he does usually every morning. He hears the sound of plates clattering and, in alarm, he quickly gets up and is ready to throw the car keys he left on the table at the intruder before he realize Connor is standing in his kitchen, a plate in each hand. 

The memory of his dream rushes back when he looks at him and Gavin suddenly realizes that he had a _fucking wet dream_ about _Connor_ , while Connor was _in his goddamned house!_ Connnor just stares at him, tilting his head in confusion like a cute fucking dog. "Good morning, Gavin." Connor says in a cool tone and it does nothing to help the swelling in his pants go away. Fuck, he slept in _jeans_. How fucking tired was he? 

"Uh, morning. I'm just- I'm just gonna, yeah..." Gavin books it, practically sprinting down the hall and locking himself in his bedroom. Fuck, Connor was still there, and he can faintly remember leaning into Connor while Connor watched the TV intently last night, and he probably crossed a line. He just hopes that he didn't do anything embarrassing while dreaming and that, God forbid, Connor had no fucking clue and was just the oblivious android he always is when it comes to human emotion. He grabs clothes out of his very limited work wardrobe (he only has five shirts that are suitable for work and the rest are either too, er, 'unprofessional' or stiff button-ups that feel too restricting), running into the bathroom and mentally thanking Luna for not deciding to spend more time than necessary in there.

Once he's done in there, he's greeted to the sight of Luna dressed up, wearing a dark pleated skirt, a white shirt, and the woolen jacket he bought her for her birthday. It was fucking expensive but she had decided that she wanted clothes to make her more 'fancy' and 'adult-like', so he got it for her. After wondering why the hell she was so dressed up, he remembered that its the last Thursday of the month. They always go out to eat, either a little diner a few minutes away or an upper-class restaurant where everyone wondered why the hell scum like Gavin was there, but he didn't care. She spared him the debt and only picked the restaurant every once in a while, but no matter what, she'd get dressed up like she was going to a five star restaurant in a place far more classy. He smiles and ruffles her hair. "Hey! I just brushed my hair!" She complains.

He just pats her shoulder and turns to Connor, who's standing in their kitchen, making scrambled eggs. "Luna! You're making Connor make you breakfast?" Gavin chides and she smirks behind her hand, and suddenly Gavin gets the feeling that she knows something he doesn't.

"Luna is not making me do anything, Gavin. I just thought I'd make you and her breakfast before I have to leave." Connor says and hands them both plates, smiling widely when Luna does. Its so incredibly domestic and sweet that it ties Gavin's stomach into knots as he accepts the plate. "Shit, do you need a ride?" He asks, realizing that he's a shitty person and that he should've taken Connor home last night, not sleep on him and then force him to make them breakfast.

"No need, Gavin. The six o'clock bus is arriving in three minutes." Connor says, still smiling brightly and taking a step further towards Gavin. "Thank you for having me. I will see you in an hour?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. An hour. Bye."

"Bye Connor!" Luna yells on his way out, waving enthusiastically at him. Gavin watches Connor leave and sighs once the door is closed, sinking into the couch next to Luna and gratefully stuffing his mouth full of the scrambled eggs. Luna is watching him intently, a smirk that closely resembles his own playing on her face. 

"You slept out here with Connor, huh?"

"Eat your breakfast or we won't eat out today. Think about where you want to eat." Gavin reprimands and turns, trying to hide his reddening face. Luna giggles and complies, scooping eggs into her mouth as Gavin tries his best to keep his dream out of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me and my lesbians live. I'm not even a lesbian (not even a girl) and yet I had to add a lesbian couple here. And I am not sorry at all. My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/).


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Case work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note: I'm sure you've realized but Chris isn't dead and y'all can lick a cactus because I am not willing to give him up.

"Where the fuck were you?!" Hank half-yells when Connor walks in. Connor can hear that his heart rate is up, higher than it should be, and frowns at the state of Hank. He's wearing his clothes from yesterday and he's sitting on the couch, standing up quickly at Connor's presence. He looks... worried. "I was startin' to think you had gotten attacked by those fuckin' psychos goin' around an' killin' androids!" Hank continues, and Connor can tell its hard for him to admit that. Its hard for Hank to outwardly show emotions other than anger and irritation at people. _Perhaps he's a little more like Gavin than I originally thought_.

"I apologize, Hank, I spent the night at Gavin's after reviewing case work with him." Connor apologizes, feeling incredibly guilty for making Hank worry. Hank seems even _more_ worried at that.

"You've got no idea how that sounds, huh?" Hank asks, but before Connor could even answer, he continues, "And since when did you call him _Gavin_?" He says Gavin's name with mild distaste that makes him frown. 

"Detective Reed and are on better terms due to... recent events, such as the case we are partnered on." Connor answers, thinking back to the threat Gavin first made at the beginning of last month. He'd threaten Connor, and while Connor does not believe Gavin would seriously damage him, he has no doubt that he would lose all trust in Connor. Gavin is very protective of Luna, and letting Connor be around the two of them is a privilege he'd very much like to keep. Hank seems to catch on, raising his eyebrows and squinting at Connor suspiciously.

"So there's more to it, then?" At the look of Connor's obvious hesitance, he says, "As long as he's not hurting you.If he's hurting you, Con, you can tell me."

"Gavin wouldn't do that to me!" Connor raises his voice defensively, realizing his LED is flickering between yellow and red. He tries to calm himself, straightening and pulling off his tie. "Gavin is different now. I assure you, Hank." Hank doesn't look entirely convinced but he doesn't argue on the matter anymore. 

He walks into his 'room', closing the door and sighing, a trait he's sure he's picked up from Hank. He gets undressed and re-dresses himself in new clothes, a dark grey button up matched with black trousers and a tie. He's not very fond of dark colours but he thinks blending in will help him and Gavin investigate. Thinking back to Gavin, he smiles. Though one thing Gavin did puzzled him immensely. 

_Connor's slowly untangling himself from Gavin's sleepy grasp, laying his head gently against the arm rest. For a guilty, indulgent moment, he runs his hand through Gavin's hair and down his jaw, his touch lingering there._

_"Connor.." He freezes, thinking he's been caught. He jerks his hand away and stares at Gavin, but Gavin's still sleeping. Connor leans down, scnning Gavin to make sure he's okay, when it happens again._

_"..C..Connor..." It comes out hitched and breathless, and Connor sees him shudder, but not quite like he's cold. It's puzzling, but then Connor notices the tent in Gavin's jeans. His face turns blue and he grabs the blanket on the back of the couch to throw over Gavin's lower half. A few more times, Gavin says his name, but he tries to ignore it, also ignoring the spike of what Connor could only describe as flame of deep arousal that had him re-positioning himself in his trousers, trying hard to calm the flashing signs of 'software instability detected'. Gavin was probably completely unaware of what he was dreaming about, anyways. He doesn't desire Connor like that. Connor's sure of it (no matter how much that hurts him)._

Connor frowns at the memory as he steps out of his room, noticing how Hank's sitting at the table, clearly not bothered by the fact that he's wearing yesterday's clothes, sipping his morning cup of coffee that has copious amounts of sugar (he swore he'd kill Connor if he told anybody). "Hank, I believe Gavin was.. _dreaming_ about me." Connor says delicately, but apparently it was too obvious what he meant because Hank covered his face and groaned.

"I don't wanna know about that shit, Con! Keep that stuff to yourself, Jesus fuck." Hank scolds, looking like he just ate the most sour thing ever. Connor shuffles sheepishly, unsure of what to do.

"Hank, do you think..?" Connor trails off, pointedly avoiding the lieutenant's gaze. He feels... _embarrassed_. That's the correct word. _Embarrassment _. He's not sure if he likes this emotion as much as others, but he's glad he's at least experienced it. His face is flushing blue and Hank just squints at him for a moment, probably both puzzled by the colour he's turning and his unfinished question.__

__Finally, he says, "I don't know, Connor. I mean, fuck, I've only ever seen him be an asshole to you before. You sure Reed hasn't brainwashed you?"_ _

__"I'm sure." Connor answers, frowning._ _

____

_____ _

____

____

"Its fucking crazy. The last time I had a wet dream I was twelve!" Gavin complains, sipping on his coffee as Tina and Chris flock around him to inquire about last night. After telling them about the case and how he had somehow ended up sleeping on the couch (and he had no clue where Connor was during that time), he finally made it to _the dream_. He didn't go into much detail beyond it obviously involving the android. He wouldn't put Chris through the torture of that. Tina, however, seemed to be enjoying his suffering. 

"You're so hopeless, man. Chris, please tell me you and your straight ass can agree that one way or another this is gonna bite him in the ass if he doesn't do anything about this." Tina says, looking pointedly at Chris. Chris grins back at her.

"Tina's right. Gavin, I don't think we can pretend this isn't more than a little crush." Chris agrees and Gavin groans, threateningly pointing a finger at the two of them. "Connor and I are gonna solve this damn case, he'll get all of the credit and everyone will feel bad for his sorry ass for having to work this short amount of time with me, and it'll all go back to normal. I'll put in more hours when I can so I don't need his help with covering for me. I just need to get through this case with him and that's it. Crush over." Gavin insists. 

"Speaking of solving the case, is that why he's been staring at you from across the goddamned station?" Tina replies with a smug smile, plucking the coffee from Gavin's hands and sipping it, grimacing when she swallows it. _Shit, I forget we're on a time limit_ , Gavin thinks, scrambling out of the room and pointedly ignoring the laughs that erupt from the break room. He stalks over to Connor, who's made himself busy with making small talk with Hank, who seems suspicious of the sudden conversation. Gavin yanks at the back of Connor's collar and wordlessly gestures to the doors leading outside. 

Connor smiles brightly and follows him to his truck, telling him the street name where 'Coffee and Tears' cafe shop is. It's near some college and gets a lot of traffic because of it. Its also quite a bit away from there Lilith lives, so it was less likely they had any clue who exactly she was and that she's an android. 

The whole drive there, Connor seems to have gone into investigation mode, because he's quiet and his eyebrows are furrowed. Gavin's half thankful for it, because he doesn't feel pressured to make small talk or somehow make an ass out of himself. He's also half annoyed by it, because it leaves him alone to try to _not_ think about the dream, which was serving to be extremely hard. He thinks of Connor's mouth on his, the look of pure pleasure and desperation on dream-Connor's face. He cant't get it out of his head.

Gavin parked on the side of the road, scanning his thumb on the parking meter to avoid costs (a perk of the job), and walked into the cafe with Connor tailing him. Connor's LED was glowing a soft yellow, probably trying to take in everyone and everything in the cafe. It was spacious but not too much, college and high school students cluttering the many tables. There was a rather long line but Connor walked up to the counter despite everyone's protests, holding up his badge. Gavin did the same, smirking to himself. "Hello, my name is Connor, and this is Detective Reed. We must ask you some questions regarding Lilith Moore." Connor said smoothly, and his speech caught a couple glances from the employees and customers for different reasons. For one, Lilith Moore worked here, so her coworkers obviously are interested to see what this is about, and two, Connor talks like an android. Its a little choppy and awkward, pauses a second too long. (Gavin, despite himself, finds it cute.)

"Uh, yeah, sure. I can't talk now but go talk to Cath, she's making coffee at the end. She's assistant manager." The guy, who's name tag reads 'Jon', jerks his thumb a little down the counter, where Cath is standing and making whatever frivolous drinks are ordered and handing them out. They get out of the way and go down to the pick-up station, where a woman with a tight pony tail in her hair is busily serving drinks. Gavin leans and puts his elbows on the side of the high counter, looking at her. "I'm Detective Reed, this is Connor, and we're here to ask you what you know about Lilith Moore." Gavin says briskly, glancing up at Connor, who's watching her intently. Probably scanning her or some android shit.

She freezes, caught off gaurd, before resuming. "Um, she was a good worked. She hasn't come into work for two days though, so I think she's going to get fired. That's why we're so busy, we don't have enough staff on hand. Lilith is a pretty white girl, y'know, I'm sure you've seen her. She works hard and took any and all hours she could get her hands on. I think she's got a boyfriend or something? They always pick her up but I've never seen their face." She pauses again, looking up at them suspiciously. "What is this about, exactly? Is she in trouble?"

Connor and Gavin exchange looks, and Gavin straightens up, about to turn around and have a quiet discussion whether or not its a good idea to say anything, but Connor leans down to whisper in his ear. "We should tell her the truth, so she knows the severity of this." Connor's breath is hot against his ear and neck and it makes his skin prickle. Gavin mutely nods, making Connor pull back. He misses the warmth and shit, no he's thinking about that mouth against his throat, and he's trying to think of anything else to keep his dick soft. Can you blame him though? It's not his fuckin' fault Connor decided to do that shit. (Then again, usually when a coworker says something to you not even remotely sexual, you usually don't get turned on.)

"Lilith Moore murdered two people and kidnapped a child. If you see her, please contact us immediately. She is dangerous." Connor says and Cath's jaw drops. They walk away, or more like Connor wanders off to harass Jon, who's now apparently on his break with Gavin mindlessly following him, a little dazed by their previous closeness. 

"Is this a better time to ask you a few questions?" Connor asks, sitting down in the booth across from Jon without waiting for an answer. Gavin climbs in too, trying to ignore the press of his thigh against Connor's. _Dead parents. Kidnapped kid. Killer on the loose. Get it together, Gavin._

Jon nods nervously and said, "Look. I don't know what she did but I've been waiting for something like this to happen." Gavin's eyebrows shoot up and before the android can say anything, he interrupts.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means that she was weird. Like, no offense, Connor or whatever, but she acted pretty android-ish. I've got one at home, and she talked like it sometimes."

"Them," Connor corrects, "She talked a like _them_ sometimes."

'Yeah, whatever man. She's definitely an android though I'm sure of it. I've offered her drinks and food, and she just never accepts, even if I know she hasn't eaten or drank all day. I once offered her some pot and she just told me what was in it!" Jon goes on to say. The whole time he's looking at Gavin, only side-glancing at Connor to eye him suspiciously. Its annoying as fuck.

"You sound like an asshole who's just pissed off a girl rejected him." Gavin says through gritted teeth, seeing Connor stare at him in surprise while the guy's face drops suddenly. He stands up. "That's all we need. She's a murderer, by the way, so if I were you, I'd be careful. If I was her you'd be at the top of my hit-list." 

Gavin stalks off and out of the door, getting into his truck and cursing someone out when they nearly try to run him over because apparently he's not getting in his fucking car fast enough. Connor stumbles inside afterwards and they sit in silence for a few moments, Gavin fuming and Connor carefully trying to figure out what to say that wouldn't piss him off more.

"Did you," He starts off cautiously, "did you say that because he seemed to have a prejudice against androids, including myself?" Gavin huffs and looks straight forward. 

"Maybe." Gavin says quietly, suddenly becoming defensive. "Does it matter? Look, just pull up Cynthia's house in that android brain of yours and lets head fuckin' there. We're on a time crunch." Connor frowns but doesn't push and Gavin's grateful for that, sighing and driving down the street and following Connor's directions.

\--

"Gavin, wait," Connor starts, grabbing hold of his elbow, effectively stopping Gavin from ringing the doorbell. "We should call for backup. This could be dangerous." Connor says, chewing his lip nervously. Gavin seems almost apathetic. He's a little numb and too caught up in his own thoughts to even care about what Connor just said.

"No. It could be nothing." Gavin insists and rings the doorbell with his free arm, watching as Connor reluctantly pulls his hand away from his elbow as the footsteps on the other side of the door grow louder. A girl who matched the description of Cynthia opens the door, her eyes narrowing and eyeing them suspiciously. 

"What is this about?" She demands, keeping the door only slightly open, ready to slam it if she needs to. Gavin opens his mouth to respond but suddenly Connor links his arm with his and says, "Hello, my name is Connor. This is my _partner_ , Gavin. We're new to this neighbourhood." He emphasis partner and gestures vaguely to the houses behind them. Gavin's glad he doesn't have his badge clipped to his jeans like he usually would, because then he wouldn't get to be this close to Connor and they would probably have to call in and get a quick warrant, but by then someone could already be dead.

Cynthia smiles, still a little cautious and says, "Oh! I see! I'm Cynthia Boran. My girlfriend is here, she's like you." She says, gesturing to Connor before sidestepping to let them in. Gavin awkwardly lets Connor drag him inside, thinking that it'd be ore convenient if they were holding hands. _No no no, lives are at stake, now is not the time for feelings and shit. Get the kid, capture Lilith, and get the fuck out of here without Connor or me injured. That's it._ Gavin thinks, deciding that if they want to get close enough to Lilith to snatch the kid, he's gonna have to do a damn good job at playing his part.

"Make yourselves at home! I'll go get her, she's in my bedroom." Gavin smiles falsely and pulls Connor down onto the cloth couch, leaning in close and practically sitting half in his lap. The girl giggles before walking down the hall.

"Did you even think this through?" Gavin hisses, furrowing his eyebrows. Connor shrugs sheepishly.

"We do not have time for a warrant, Detective Reed. I made do with what I had. You will take Myers Moore and I will apprehend Lilith." Connor replies, making Gavin sputter. 

"No. Fucking. Way. I'll grab the kid but you're hardware's faulty if you think I'll let you deal with the two of them alone." Gavin says in a low voice and before Connor could argue, the two girls come in, laughing about something. "Hi!" Lilith greets happily, and Gavin quickly moves his face away from Connor's, which must look incredibly suspicious and not at all what it really is. 

"Hello," Connor responds, and Gavin just nods and smiles again, hoping it doesn't seem too forced. "My partner, Gavin, and I are new to the neighbourhood." He introduces again, standing up to let Lilith shake his hand. Lilith's hand turns white and metal-like, and she pulls it away quickly. "Sorry! I can't control it. My name's Lilith Moore, and that's my girlfriend, Cynthia. We live here with my brother and her mom." Lilith says, but Gavin can tell there's something off about her and makes a mental note to ask Connor about the hand-thing. 

Connor lets his hand drop, smiling tightly. "Hello, Lilith." Before it can get even more awkward, Gavin stands up abruptly. 

"I, uh, can I use your bathroom?" He asks quickly, trying his best to sound like a normal person and not someone who's looking for an excuse to a) get away and b) snoop around the house. Cynthia smiles and points down the hall. "To the left and the second door on the left-hand side." Gavin says his thanks and gently rests his hang on Connor's shoulder blade, which is meant to be reassuring, and walks down the hall as quickly as he can without raising suspicions. 

He makes it to the bathroom and as he's about to close the door behind him, the door across from it opens up just a crack, an eye peering curiously. _The little brother._ He smiles at the kid, this time genuinely. You'd think someone as bitter and mean as Gavin would be horrible with kids, but he loves them. Myers reminds him of Luna when she was younger, shy until Gavin wasn't. 

"Mister," Myers Moore whispers quietly, "My sista hurt my mamma and dada." Gavin's heart sinks. They had hoped Myers would be oblivious. It's always tragic when the kids witnessed crimes as bad as this. Gavin just hopes Myers was young enough to forget it as he got older. 

"I know. Listen, I'm a cop. See?" He pulls his badge out of his pocket before tucking it back in, crouching to Myers' level. "My name is Gavin and we're gonna help you, okay? You're aunt and uncle are looking for you. If you help me out we can get you home to them. Does that sound good?"

Myers nods his head, his blonde hair flopping over his eyes. "Okay."

"Good. I'm gonna need you to hide, okay? And don't come out until you hear me or my partner, Connor. He's tall and looks a little scary, but he's good." Gavin explains awkwardly. Myers nods slowly. 

"I'll hide unda my bed." Gavin smiles. "Good call, kid. I've got to go back out and check on my partner. You'll be okay, Myers. I'll get you out of here." Myers nods again and slowly closes his door. Gavin stands up and dusts off his jeans, closing the bathroom door and wanders back down the hall. The sight he sees shocks him. 

"Gavin.." Connor says, nose and mouth steadily bleeding blue blood as Cynthia points a gun at his head. Lilith whips around to look at him and grabs her gun, walking forward until Gavin's pushed against the closest wall.

"You think I'm stupid?" Lilith asks, both to Connor and him. "I've seen your face all over the news, Detective Connor, about what a _hero_ you are." She hisses and presses the cool barrel of the gun against Gavin's temple. He winces and tries to pull awya, but she just holds him still and presses harder. If she had an LED, it'd be flashing a dangerous red right now. "I'm not sure who you are, but he wouldn't tell us anything, so you must be important." She smiles grimly and shoves him off the wall and towards the middle of the room. 

Gavin grunts and is ready for a fight but Connor shakes his head, making direct eye contact with him. His LED is whirring red and he looks threatening, even though his face is dangerously blank right now. "We're going to take Connor's hard-drive." Lilith says, pointing over to where Cynthia is standing next to Connor, who's bleeding onto the couch. "To take his memories and then shoot you in the head."

Lilith isn't a cold-blooded killer though. Gavin can see it clear as day. Her hand is shaking and she's gritting her teeth until he's sure he hears them crack, and she's crying. Not making noise, but tears are rolling down her face. 

"Lilith, why do this? Why'd you kill your parents?" Apparently Connor can see it too, because he asks his questions in a calming voice. She turns around to stare at him and Cynthia looks sorry. Not for them, but for her, for her sadness and hurt and all of the other fucked-up feelings Gavin knows all too well.

"They.. they didn't want me anymore. After they found out about Cynthia." She says, gesturing to her girlfriend. "I wasn't perfect anymore. They were going to get me taken away. I know its against the law now, but some people are all too willing to break the law to get rid of us." She's crying and shaking harder but she remains resilient. "I couldn't leave Myers there. It could've been days before they found him. So I took him with me. I feel bad, for orphaning him, but they were my parents too! They were my fucking parents and they were going to send me away because I love her."

Lilith turns from sorrowful to angry, pointing her gun back at Gavin. "I don't wanna do this, but I have to." Her hands pulling the pistol slide towards her and--

Connor's up quick, grabbing Cynthia's gun and shooting the girl in the thigh, causing her to scream out in pain and get Lilith's attention. Lilith turns her head and quickly shoots Gavin in the stomach, before her brains - or android bits, whatever - splatter against the wall. Gavin's not sure what's happening anymore but hes falling...

...and falling...

...and falling...

...and _fading..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if my chapters come out once a week instead of twice, school just started back up again and finding time to write this will become hard. I refuse to give up though! Also, I'm sorry about how bad this chapter was. I hate it. My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor's coping.

Connor struggles over to Gavin, coughing up blue blood on his way and getting more of it on his shirt (Lilith's blood was everywhere). He's panicking and has enough rational sense to scan Gavin. He's breathing heavily and probably unconscious, which is not good sign. Connor presses his hand against the wound which makes Gavin groan but gets no other response. He has both guns on the floor next to him, just above Gavin's head, so he's not worried about Cynthia's wails. She's sobbing and laying down next to Lilith, her gun wound giving her trouble. She's brushing Lilith's blond hair with her dark fingers and crying loudly. Connor doesn't notice her beyond that, though. All he sees and feels and _breathes_ is Gavin.

He sent a text to Hank to come to Cynthia's house and bring backup as soon as Lilith restrained him, and by the sounds of it, they've arrived. A little bar from the corner of Connor's vision is telling him his software if 68% unstable but he can't focus. He can't stop. His hands are shaking and he rings his other hand up to rest on Gavin's cheek, stroking over the scar on the bridge of his nose unconsciously. He looks peaceful. Which, Connor would appreciate like he did last night, but he can't. Not right now. In fact, he looks a little too peaceful, so Connor presses a little harder on the wound, getting another groan of unconscious protest. It's relieving.

He hardly registers the hand tugging at his shoulder and, before he can even think about what he's doing, he's got one of the blood-stained guns in his hands pointed at Hank. Hank put his hands up and looks at Connor with the most terrified expression Connor's ever seen on the lieutenant's face before. It's incredibly sobering. Hank's saying something to him but he can't process words right now, so he tosses the gun at Hank's feet and goes back to cradling Gavin's upper half in his lap, trying to keep the blood in. It's not working. It's slipping through his fingers and it's sticky and hot and _red_.

Paramedics rush in and rip his hands away and he's sure he punches one of them. Not enough to severely hurt them, but enough to warn. It doesn't keep them away from Gavin though, and soon they're prying Gavin from his hands and Hank's holding him back, almost hugging his shoulders. The wailing that was background noise becomes clearer all of a sudden and he turns to see Cynthia getting handcuffed as the paramedics tend to her wounds. For a sick moment, he wishes they'd let her die.

This is the first time he feels pure _wrath_.

__

The first thing he says to Hank is "Go to the elementary school closest to the station". Hank looks at him, confused, but does it anyways. They're pulling away from the crime scene. They've already taken Gavin to the hospital, and would now allow Connor to come with. On some level - the one that hasn't been completely destroyed and still a little rational - he knows he'd only get in the way. But that didn't stop him from trying to get on. (Hank ended up having to shove him into his car to stop him.)

Once they're there,Connor initially tells Hank to stay in the car, but Hank, of course, does not listen. "I wanna know what the fuck we're doing at a school when Reed's at the hospital." Hank says, and, if not for the situation, he would've smiled. Hank cares about Reed's well-being, even if they do not entirely get along. Connor walks into the school and up to the same, dead-eyed android at the front desk. She smiles.

"You still have emergency clearance to pick up Luna Reed. Is this an emergency?" She asks politely. Hank's eyes widen and he looks at Connor questioningly, but he can't focus on anything except getting Luna.

"Gavin's in the hospital. I- I'm going to take her with me. She needs to be there." Connor says demandingly. The android nods and picks up the phone, presumably dialing Luna's teacher.

He feels like Luna is the one piece of Gavin he can have right now. Plus, she deserves to know Gavin is in the hospital. 

He just hopes Gavin can forgive him for inadvertently telling Hank.

__

"Hi Connor!" She exclaims, hugging his lower half. He picks her up and squeezes her tightly. "Are you... crying?" Luna asks, swiping his cheek and looking worried.

He freezes, blinking, and notices his vision is mildly obstructed with water. That's never happened before. He was unaware he even had the ability to 'cry'. She's urging him on, asking him whats wrong. Connor shifts, still holding her up in his arms. 

"Gavin-- your father, is in the hospital. I am taking you to see him once he is out of surgery." He says. Luna's eyes widen. She's in obvious shock, her heart rate rising at worrying speeds.

He's not sure when she started sobbing.

Hank grimaces and buckles her up in the back. When they're all in the car, he turns to Connor. "You didn't tell me he's got a kid." Hank says.

"He asked me not to tell."

Hank sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. "Look, he'll probably live. He's a tough son of a bitch. But in the meantime, I'll help you take care of her. No arguments."

Connor nods numbly. It is probably in the best interest of Luna, despite how much Gavin would argue. They make their way to the hospital in silence, except for Luna's crying. It doesn't stop, it just gets quieter, to the point where Connor's worried she will throw up. When he looks back at her through the glass, he wonders if Gavin's ever taken her into the inside of a police car. If she hasn't, she's probably afraid. Connor wishes he could offer comfort to her, but his mind is already so preoccupied. He's got feeds up from the hospital (in which he hacked), the footage of Gavin getting shot on a sickening loop, and medical reports from past cases of shot-wounds to the lower left abdominal area (which he also hacked). His heads pounding and he sees his software instability rise and there's a two percent chance he might blow himself up, which isn't very much, but Connor's never had that pop-up before.

When he gets out of the car he opens Luna's car door side, unbuckling her and picking her up gently. He frowns when he feels the material of her jacket again. 

_"That is a very nice jacket, Luna. Is there some special occasion?" Connor asked, pointing to the jacket bundled up in her tired arms. She beamed sleepily._

_"Yeah! Dad takes me to dinner the last Thursday of the month, so I get to dress up!" She says, and then suddenly looks like she had the best idea. "You should come with us! It'll be fun! But you have to dress up!" She says excitedly, more awake than previously. He smiles sheepishly._

_"You'd have to ask Gavin."_

A spike of guilt runs through him, and he focuses on the video of Gavin getting shot. He feels like this is his fault. If he hadn't listened to Gavin and made them wait for backup, he would most likely not ended up in this situation. His grip on her tightens a fraction - not enough to hurt or cause discomfort, of course - and he almost carries her into the hospital on autopilot. Hank walks next to him, frowning at Luna. Connor recalls Hank's son. Perhaps he is reminded of him. 

"How may I help you?" A girl - deviant - asks, her tone dampening when she hears Luna sob into Connor's shoulder. 

Connor opens his mouth, but he can't seem to get the words out, despite his 'vocal chords' functioning perfectly. "Gavin Reed." Hank answers for him after a few moments. 

"I'm sorry, he's still in surgery and he's now allowed visitors until tomorrow. It's also only direct family. I apologize." She says. She probably scanned him and Hank to find no connection with Gavin. Connor falters for a moment, his LED flashing bright red before turning to yellow as he shifts Luna in his arms. 

"This is Luna Reed. She is his daughter, and since she has no other parent or family member, I am taking care of her. She is family and allowed to go in, and she cannot go in alone, per rules of this facility." Connor argues calmly, ignoring the slight fuzziness around his view. She nods slowly, looking back at her computer with a sigh. 

"Okay, I can allow it, but until people outside of direct family are allowed in, your friend will have to wait outside. Your opportunity to visit will most likely be at three p.m. tomorrow. I will give you a key-card that can access the hospital cafeteria and, when he's cleared for visitors, Mr.Reed's room. Please do not lose it." She hands over a silver key-card with the hospital's logo on it. "Down the hall, there are a couple chairs by room 387, which is his room. Wait there or come back later. I'm sorry." Connor nods gratefully, trying his best to muster up a thankful expression. 

"We appreciate it, Samantha." Connor says as his eyes flicker down to her name tag. She gives him a sad smile and turns back to her computer terminal. They walk down to the chairs outside of Gavin's room, Connor gently setting Luna down in one of the plastic chairs. Hank grabs him by the shoulder, gesturing for Connor to sit down on the other side of Luna. Connor complies, still going through the footage and such. He's tried to hack into hospital room cameras but it seems there are none. Luna curls up an places her head against his arm. He stays still, tiring his best to be comfortable for her.

They sit there in uncomfortable plastic chairs for three hours, twenty-four minutes and nine seconds. Connor's finished pouring over everything he could get his hands on and comes to the conclusion that there is only a forty-three percent chance Gavin will die. It's not exactly comforting, but it's better than any higher percentage. The receptionist and Hank didn't seem to think Gavin was likely to die, and if he and it until tomorrow at three p.m., then Connor is confident his chances drop down to thirty-eight percent. Eventually, Luna's heart rate slows down and he believes she is in the early stages of sleep. Hank seems to notice, because he glances up from his phone (which he had been on most of the time, since he wasn't exactly the kind of person who could sit ram-rod straight for hours) and looks at Connor, catching his attention.

"She can't sleep here, Con." Hank whispers gently. He's watching Connor warily, like how he did when they first met. Connor doesn't blame him, he appears incredibly unstable. The only thing keeping himself from blowing up is knowing Luna would be alone. 

_Alone._

Connor nods slowly. "I do not think she would leave her father willingly, Lieutenant." Hank squints at the 'Lieutenant' part, but Connor continues before Hank could question him, "Perhaps she and you can sleep in the car. I will stay here." Connor says, no room for argument in his words. Hank looks like he wants to argue, and Connor's sure that he would if he didn't think the android was a 'ticking-time bomb', but he doesn't. He nods, maybe a little sadly, and gets up, hoisting Luna up carefully. Luna stirs but says nothing, latching onto Hank's shoulders easily. It's a bit of a strain for Hank, Connor can see that, but Hank is too stubborn to make her walk. 

"Connor?" 

"Yes, Hank?"

"I.. He'll live. I know it's scary and shit, but he won't die. But in the meantime, do me a favour." Connor's eyebrows furrow and he looks up at Hank. "What is the favour?"

"Pull your head out of your ass." Hank says with a firm face, turning and carrying Luna down the hall. Connor can see her dark hair over his shoulder swish with the movements.

"What do you mean?" Connor calls down the hall. Hank doesn't stop, but simply says, "Figure it out, dumbass. I'll give you a hint: GAVIN REED."

Connor frowns at his words but doesn't say anything. 

__

_"Connor?"_

_"Gavin?" He's staring down at Gavin's corpse, covered in a mixture of red and blue blood. Gavin's face is staring back up at him with cold, dead eyes. His face is bone-white and lips cracked. Connor's hands shake as he reaches out to touch him._

_"You got me fucking killed." Gavin says, almost in a tone of disbelief. He laughs bitterly and Connor cringes at the red blood that trickles out of his mouth when he smirks. "I knew I shouldn't trust an android. You got me killed, Connor. I can't come back. I'm fucking dead."_

_"Gavin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"_

_"Of course you did." Gavin says and suddenly he's standing, but it's... odd. He's hunches over and looks as if he's broken every bone in his body. Blood pour out of his gunshot wound like a waterfall. Connor watches it pool around his feet, rising quickly and already at his ankles. "You could've saved me!"_

_"I--"_

_"Shut the fuck up! Look at her!" He gestures over to Luna, who's curled up onto the floor in the distance. Her quiet cries echo around the emptiness. "You fucking did that to her! And you did this to me!" Gavin yells, hands covering his wound. Blood escapes around his fingers and he reaches up, cupping Connor's cheeks as he gets closer. Burning-hot blood stains his skin and suddenly Gavin doesn't look angry or smug. He looks.. haunted._

_"How could you do this to me, Connor? I loved you." That shocks Connor and he quickly pulls away, Gavin's bloody hands sliding, boneless, down his shirt before swinging back to his own side._

_"You don't love me." Connor says, barely audible. He's shaking and his visions distorted. It's all blurry and unfocused, the only thing appearing in focus is Gavin. Gavin smiles sadly and pulls Connor back in, burning hands coming to fit around his neck. He doesn't squeeze or make Connor feel threatened, but it sends a jolt through his spine when Gavin leans in and his lips brush Connor's ear._

_"Pull your head out of your ass."_

Connor wakes up with a start, breathing heavily, hands shaking as he runs a diagnostic report. According to the report, nothing is wrong, but Connor has an idea of what just happened. _Nightmares_. Androids aren't meant to have such a thing. They aren't even meant to _dream_ Then again, androids aren't meant to feel things like 'love' either.

_Love._

He huffs a shaky breath and checks the time. _Four-forty seven a.m._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya'll ever get the strong feeling to just kill off someone even though its not at all where the story's going? Yeah, me too. Sorry this chapter is depressing. Also, writing stuff like this is especially draining for me because I'm not exactly sure how people react to tragedy, so this might be late. My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/)


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor decides that sleeping is something he finds undesirable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, this is the future. They've got advanced medical stuff, I'd assume, so don't correct me on my medical logic n stuff because 1)I aint gonna get a doctrate in medicine just for a fanfic and 2) this is the future so your guess is as good as mine on their medicine.

When Hank and Luna come back into the hospital, they come back with a bright red crystallized drink in Luna's hand, which she is slurping on happily. She hasn't completely brightened, she's still afraid - Connor can see it - but she seems more... relaxed. Connor assumed this was Hank, considering the smile he's got while he guides her by her shoulder back to where Connor is sitting. It's eight forty a.m. and Connor scans the cup, registering high amounts of sugar. 

"I believe that is not an appropriate meal." Connor says, frowning at her cup. She smiles softly. "It's a slushie!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, we had breakfast before we got that thing." Hank says, grimacing as he points at it. "It's too fucking sweet for me." Luna laughs at that and settles herself in the seat next to Connor's, curling back up next to him. Connor smiles at her before looking up at Hank, nodding his head gratefully. He has to admit, if Hank had not been here, Luna would probably be suffering more than she is. Connor already loves Luna - she's sweet and kind and thoughtful - but love would not get him very far in cheering her up. He's an android after all; he's had no practice in making humans _feel_ better. Hank just nods his head back, looking away. 

Two hours pass of Luna playing a basic, retro-styled game on Hank's phone, Hank mostly just pacing around or showing Luna how to play. Hank hates staying still , Connor knows that, so he doesn't argue when Hank says he's going to go back to his house for a while. Just to shower and such, but he promises he'll be back in time to see Connor before they go in to see Gavin. Hank can't go in, as per the instructions of the receptionist, but that's okay. Connor nods and, after Hank's already left, realizes Luna still has the Lieutenant's phone.

After a few minutes of silence (except for Luna's fingers clicking against the screen), Luna speaks up, not looking at him. "Connor?"

"Yes Luna?" He asks, looking down at her. There is a slight waver in her voice and her heart beat has spiked slightly.

"What.. what happened?" She asks and looks up at him. Her eyes are wide and brimmed red, lips quivering. Connor feels a spike of _uncertainty_ run through him. He's not sure how to answer that. Does he tell Luna everything? Does he lie? Does he say a half-truth? Does he roundaboutly say something that poses itself as an answer but isn't? Luna is a nine year old. She's too young to be told the whole truth, right? It'll make her more afraid.

It'll maker her feel the way Connor _feels_.

"A woman," _android_ , "kidnapped a child," _and killed her parents_ , "and we were trying to get him back. We got him, but they.. shot Gavin before we could leave." _and it was my fault_. 

Luna nods like she's trying to understated and looks down at the phone in her lap. "Are you.. are you okay?" She asks, looking up again and squinting at him, trying to find any wounds. 

"Do not worry about me, Luna," _I almost got your father killed_ "I can regenerate myself. The most damage I took was to my internal visor and a few processors, but I will be fine." _Besides the mental problems appearing to situate itself within me._ Luna nods slowly again. She turns off the phone and turns her whole body towards him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. Connor reciprocates and smiles into her hair. Her hair is thick and feels vastly different from his synthetic hair. It's oddly comforting, which Connor thinks he should find ridiculous, because he's the one that's meant to be comforting _her_ , after all. 

She smiles at him when she pulls away, sipping on her slushie that's bright red (and makes Connor feel sick). Connor elects to do more coin tricks, something Luna quickly becomes enraptured by. 

Two hours pass of Connor teaching Luna how to do a few simple coin tricks, and another two pass of her playing on the Lieutenant's phone and Connor _anxiously_ flicking his coin from one hand to another. The whole time, he goes over his footage from yesterday. It hurts to look at but he must analyze it to write a report to the station and get Cynthia Boran charged with being an accessory to murder, accessory to kidnapping, assaulting a detective, and attempted murder of a detective. He is unaware if Lilith survived, but a twisted part of him hopes she bled to death in Cynthia's living room. 

He decides it best if he didn't voice that wish to anyone else.

At two fifty p.m. a nurse comes by, just as Connor's about to get up and get someone to grant his key-card access to Gavin's room. It's a tall man - human - with a polite smile on his face. "Are you Connor Reed and Luna?" He asks, looking down at the clipboard. Connor's face turns blue and Luna giggles next to him.

"My name is Connor, I'm an android. I have no last name. She is the only one related to Gavin." Connor says quickly, pocketing his coin anxiously. The nurse seems to have noticed his LED and nods, embarrassed. He erases something from the clipboard.

"My apologies! Well, I have come to let you know you now have full access to the room. We have better tenchnonolgy than we did ten years ago, so there aren't dozens of tubes or anything. He just has an oxygen mask, and do not remove it unless he wakes up. When he wakes up, please press the blue button labeled 'help' next to his bed, so we can check his vitals and make sure he's recovering as well as we think he will. Alert us if anything goes wrong. Have a good day." He says, explaining the instructions carefully. Connor mentally makes a list of his speech in case of emergency, despite the fact that he could easily pull up his internal footage of him speaking.

Connor grabs Luna's hand and swipes his key-card against the small window indicated, and it pops open with a click. It's an older hospital; usually, hospitals just use fingerprints to open doors now. He goes in first. Despite what the nurse said, he wants to make sure that Gavin is not stung up in a way that would scare Luna. 

Gavin's laying in a hospital bed, a hologram displaying his vitals behind him. There's a small oxygen mask fitted around his mouth and nose, and a small tube going up his arm and splitting into three different tubes going to three different bags. He analyzes them as one being a pain medication, one keeping him from waking up too soon, and the other providing nourishment. He scans Gavin and easily locates the sewn-up bullet wound. It didn't go all the way through or hit any vital organs. Connor takes a deep breath and lets Luna in, and she starts crying. Not sobbing like she did, but quiet tears trickling down her face. She squeezes Connor's hand tightly before letting go, approaching Gavin's bed. Connor does the same.

When he looks down at Gavin, he's reminded of the night when Gavin fell asleep on him. He had looked peaceful, cuddled up against Connor's side, breathing softly. This time, however, he's got dried blood on him, a few superficial cuts on his face that will most definitely scar, and he looks absolutely fucking _alone_. 

Connor's sure he'd throw up if he were human. 

Unconsciously, he puts his arm gently around Luna to squeeze her close. She reaches out to grab Gavin's hand, small fingers wrapping tightly around his. They both look fragile, something they usually don't. Gavin raised Luna just like him; Connor's never seen either of them look so _fragile_. It makes Connor's internal visor flicker in and out and he gets a few error signs popping up to tell him that his hard-drive is overheating. 

He sucks in a deep breath and lets go of Luna, seating himself in one of the chairs next to Gavin's bed. Luna does the same, putting her head on his shoulder and wetting his jacket, which he beltedl realizes still has blood and other various stains on it. He scans it and grimaces as he finds the majority of it is Gavin's, some of it mixing with his thirium and stainig purple.

__

Exactly one hour and fifty-two minutes later, Hank knocks on the door. Connor opens it, expecting the nurse or doctor, but he's met with the Lieutenant's scowl. "How fuckin' long have you let her sit there?"

"Two hours and three minutes." Connor says blankly. Hank's frown deepens and looks over to Luna, who's still clutching Gavin's lifeless hand in her small one. Her face is stained with dried tears and her eyes are brimmed red. 

"Give me his address." Hank demands and Connor opens his mouth to argue, but Hank continues, " She's been wearing the same fucking clothes for two days, Connor. She needs to shower and change and whatever the fuck else." Hank grimaces as he looks at Connor's shirt and adds, "I'll pick up some clothes for you, too, 'cause you really look like shit."

Connor looks over to Luna, biting his lip. Hank is right - of course he is -, she needs to change. It is unhygienic and he has a feeling Gavin would scold him right now for letting her wear her clothes for so long that _Hank_ has to know where he lives, but Gavin isn't here to argue, so he nods and calls Luna softly. "Luna, Hank is going to take you to your apartment." When she doesn't move, he adds, "I'll watch over Gavin in your absence." 

Luna looks over at them, squeezing her father's hand gently before standing up, wiping her face and walking towards Hank. Hank wordlessly hoists her up to carry her, and Connor would find it 'funny' that Hank carries her despite the obvious strain it puts on him. Connor pulls up Gavin's address in his internal visor and texts it to Hank, only dimly aware of his LED whirring yellow as he does. "I've texted Gavin's address to you, Hank." He says and Hank nods, giving him a small smile that feels like its meant to reassure Connor. They leave and Connor shuts the door, taking a deep breath he doesn't need and sitting back down next to Gavin.

He reaches out with shaking fingers, thankful he's not under the watchful eye of Luna, and gently cups Gavin's face. His hand's skin deactivates and soon cool, stark-white plastic is pressing against Gavin's face. He knows logically that Gavin is not an android and he's unable to connect with him in such a way, but it still feels overwhelmingly intimate. He comes to a complete stop, realizing what he's subconsciously done. He's never connected to an android before - not like this. He's never let a _human_ see his endoskeleton. Amongst androids, its an incredible sign of trust. It conveys deep feelings and its very _personal_. 

Connor remembers his thoughts after the nightmare. Sure, he's experienced _love_ before, he's sure of it. He loves Hank, loves Sumo, even loves Luna. But when he looks at Gavin, it doesn't quite feel like the same kind of _love_. When he thinks of Gavin he thinks of Gavin sleeping against his shoulder, them investigating the house (in which Gavin became extremely flustered over seeing Connor analyze blood), Gavin sheepish approaching his desk each and every time he needed Connor to cover for him, even the little moments they had spent together, such as Gavin telling him he's got shitty taste in music and sending him a playlist of 'good music', or Gavin describing in incredible detail about Luna's proudest moment - which was a near knife fight that made Connor slightly worried. Each of those memories made warmth build up in his chest and a smile flutter across his face. He _loves_ Gavin Reed, but he thinks its not how he loves others.

One things for sure: he loves Gavin Reed. So much so that he curses in frustration when he can't connect with him; can't feel for himself that Gavin's _alive_. So he settles for scanning Gavin and finding his heartbeat and breathing rate are average. It does nothing to calm the worry that's settled itself in Connor's core. 

He stays in that position, bare hand against Gavin's face, thumb rubbing absentmindedly at the jagged scar across the bridge of his nose, until he loses track of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What, is it the android-equivalent of having your dicks out?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had surgery over the summer and I'm just basing this off of that except more extreme so don't yell at me for being incorrect, because, as I said in the last chapter, I'm no doctor.

Connor looks down with wide eyes, finding wide-eyes staring back at him. Gavin's eyes are open and looking from Connor's face to Connor's hand, bare and stark white. He can hear a loud heartbeat, but he's unsure if its Gavin's or his. Connor's mouth is open and he wants to say something, but then Gavin starts coughing and hes quickly reminded of the situation. HE quickly re-covers his hand with skin and presses the small help button next to Gavin's bed, absolutely panicking. He then removes the oxygen mask like he was instructed, but has no clue what else to do. Gavin's awake, Gavin's awake, _Gavin is awake_. It's only been two days and Gavin is awake, but Connor remembers the sort of technology they have in this place. He's not an expert on medicinec - it has no use to negotiating beyond knowing who's blood is who's and such - but he's mildly aware that medicine advanced greatly in the late 20's. His data only provides small information about it but he's sure that they are always advancing in that field.

Two nurses rush in and completely ignore Connor's presence, and he manages to get out of the seat and away before they practically shove him off. One is providing water from a rather long straw and the other is checking his vitals. Connor hears Gavin's heartbeat slowly even out as they try to make him more comfortable and shuffle about, saying things that Connor's processing unit can't seem to understand. It feels like he's in a tank at the aquarium, looking out at people. 

One of the nurses, a woman, says hurriedly to him, "His vitals look good. His throat is slightly swollen so he can't talk much - a common side-effect from some of our medications - but he can still talk a little, just give him water often. The doctor is going to come in and take a look at his wounds and see what he remembers shortly. If he starts panicking and doesn't remember where he is, press the help button. Android, can you manage him?" She asks him in a cold tone, and Connor blinks. 

"I am a deviant, and my name is Connor." Connor says carefully, and the woman gives him a look that suggests she would like to tell him he's no more special than my of the equipment in the room. "And yes, I can handle him." The other nurse - the one who let Connor in earlier - looks extremely uncomfortable with everything and props Gavin up. Gavin makes a groan of testament. The android gives him a quick nod on their way out and the whirlwind is over. Now its just Gavin and Connor again, and Connor's can see Gavin squinting at him from where he lies on the hospital bed. Connor takes a deep, unneeded breath and smiles. 

"Good afternoon, Gavin. It is seven twenty-six p.m. on Friday, March eighth, 2038" Connor says cautiously. Gavin doesn't seem to be in a state of panic at the news of the date, so he must remember at least the last week. "What do you remember?"

"Why the fuck're you talkin' like a med-android?" Gavin asks in a rough, harsh voice that makes Connor beam. He quickly grabs the cup of water and mindlessly puts the straw to Gavin's lips, unable to stop grinning. A pop-up at the corner of his vision informs him that his systems are working at full capacity and his hard-drive has successfully cooled down. Gavin sips on the water, looking mildly dejected that he needs Connor's help for this. Gavin lets the straw fall and licks his lips, and Connor's embarrassed to say that within mere minutes of Gavin being awake, he is already... fascinated with these small _movements_ of Gavin. 

"Fuck, how long was I out?" Gavin asks roughly and Connor frowns at that. He just told Gavin the date, but perhaps he's too out of it to realize?

"Approximate forty-five hours. I apologize that I can't give you an exact amount of time, a few of my systems shut down in my.. er, panic to get here." Connor admits sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck (a habit he's picked up from many humans). Gavin suddenly jerks up, wincing at the sharp pain, making Connor reach out to try to soothe him. 

"Luna-- what, where's-- Luna?" Gavin asks, a sudden look of panic settling over his face as he looks around the room, looking as if he's ready to tear himself away from this bed and find her, even if it kills him. Connor smiles assuredly and gently pushes his shoulders back down. 

"She's with Hank getting breakfast, don't worry." Connor says, and immediate closes his eyes, waiting for Gavin's impending shouting. "I apologize but I had to tell Hank-- he, I couldn't watch you and take care of her-- I'm sorry, I--"

"Jesus fuck, shut up." Gavin groans, and Connor reluctantly opens his eyes and sees Gavin's face drawn up in pain. "Fucking hell, I don't give a fuck if you told that asshole or not. I just wanted to know if she was okay." Gavin says, coughing more. Connor gives him more water and sets it down on the bedside table. 

Gavin suddenly smirks at Connor and Connor squirms slightly in his seat, unsure of why Gavin's looking at him like this. Gavin asks him, "What the fuck were you doin' with your hand?" 

Connor's sure he turns blue. It's incredibly embarrassing, trying to connect to an _unconscious human_ in a way that would never work. He wonders why he would even try to do that -subconsciously or not. Yes, he may be... _attracted_ to Gavin in a way he hadn't thought about before, but to disable his skin was odd. It reminded him he wasn't human, and it was a little more unsettling than he'd like to admit. Even as an android - a blind, loyal tool - the plastic underneath his skin was almost like a taboo to look at. Most androids - Markus, Simon, and other Jericho members - seemed to take pride in the plastic that separated them from the humans. But not Connor. It was just a reminder that no matter what he felt, he was never truly human. 

"I deactivated my skin for a few moments, revealing the plastic underneath." Connor supplies unhelpfully. Gavin squints at him, or, well,squints his eyes even more, which makes him look like he's closing his eyes with extreme struggle. Connor smiles at that. 

"That doesn't answer the question, dipshit." Gavin obviously noticed his tactic in not actually saying anything helpful, because he suddenly grins and asks with a smug face, "What, is it the android-equivalent of having your dicks out?"

Connor sputters, making Gavin laugh, and then wince in pain. "No, of course not! But it is rather... _intimate_ \--"

"Good evening Mr.Reed," The doctor greets loudly as he walks in, not paying any mind to Connor. Both Gavin and Connor jerk away from each other, and Connor suddenly realizes how close they were. He could hear the soft breathing in his ear and feel the warmth radiating off of Gavin, but now he doesn't feel anything. "I'm Dr.Calhoun, the one who preformed surgery. I'm just going to take a look at your stitches and, if all looks alright, you should be out of here in two days." Dr. Calhoun introduces, and Connor's head jerks. 

"Two days? Isn't that too soon?" Connor asks, aware of how Dr. Calhoun's face scrunches unpleasantly at the sound of his voice. 

"We have the technology to make you _things_ , we have the technology to heal him faster. You must be an out-of-date model, I suggest getting a new one." Dr. Calhoun says, the last part directed towards Gavin. Gavin grits his teeth and his hand curls into a fist, but Connor gently puts his hand on his shoulder, urging him to not say anything too crass. (Though Connor has to admit, he himself would very much enjoy giving Dr. Calhoun a 'piece of his mind'.)

Connor notes, with much satisfaction, that Gavin relaxes into his touch, taking a deep breath. "Androids aren't sellin' anymore. He ain't anybody's toy, either." Gavin replies vehemently, scowling at the doctor, who looks displeased by his words. 

"Can you get onto our side so I can take a look at your stitches?" He asks as if he didn't hear Gavin. Gavin complies and struggles to get onto his side, back facing Connor. As Calhoun pulls gown to show his wound Connor grimaces, torn between looking away and staring at it. Blood-soaked bandages cover it and when he pulls them off, Gavin hisses in pain.

Honestly, it doesn't look as bad as Connor expected it to. He expected blood dripping down his side and it to be ripe with infection, but it's just a few stitches, stretching on for only about 3 millimeters (the original wound was approximately 5.6 millimeters, according to Connor's reconstruction), bruises forming around it. Connor notices other small but deep scars around Gavin's abdominal area, and realized this was probably not his first time being shot. This newfound information made Connor feel... dizzy and oddly protective. "Am I at least gonna have a killer scar, Con?" 

Connor jolts back to reality, smiling softly at Gavin's back as the doctor pokes and prods and the area. "You will most definitely scar but I believe it will not be as significant as your other ones, such as the one on your face." Gavin chuckles at Connor's little 'joke', then hisses in pain again when Calhoun presses on the stitching gently. 

"Your body seems to be healing nicely, since it was a clean shot. It will most likely heal as well as the other ones." Dr. Calhoun says, confirming Connor's suspicions. "Let me just re-bandage you and then I'll send a nurse in to bring you some food."

Calhoun carefully re-bandages the wound and Connor can't tear his eyes off of Gavin's torso for two horrible fucking reasons. (The first being Gavin's toned underneath all those baggy clothes he wears, and the second being its his fucking fault Gavin is injured in the first place.) 

The doctor leaves the two in silence, and something must've shown on Connor's face because Gavin reaches out, laying his hand on Connor's shoulder. Connor looks up from his hands and locks eyes with Gavin. 

"Hey, don't look so shitty. I'm the one layin' here with a gun shot in me, not you." Gavin jokes, but Connor's face twists unpleasantly, hands clenching in his lap. 

"That's my point, Gavin. This is my fault. I shouldn't have let you go in there, I--"

"Shut the fuck up, fucking hell!" Gavin snaps, smacking Connor's shoulder with little force. "If we didn't go in there then they coulda been half way to fucking Vancover with the kid in tow for all we know. Wait, is the kid okay? Did you guys get him? Fuck, I told him I'd get him."

"He is fine, Gavin. Do not worry, he's living with his aunt and uncle currently. From what I remember, he is doing fine." Connor says honestly, only vaguely recalling what Hank had read to him of the report. "That's not the point, though. My point is you could've died--"

"Woah, who the fuck do you think I am, Con? I took down one of the biggest illegal arms dealers in 2031 with six fucking bullets in me. This isn't even close to my worse injury, trust me." Gavin says it like it's nothing but the thought of Gavin even being shot more than once in his life makes his stomach churn. He'd seen random scars on Hank before, but he never asked about them because Hank had told him in a drunken stupor that he hadn't been shot or severely injured since his son died. 

"Gavin, that does not--"

"Dad!" Luna bursts through the door, running to the other side of the bed and hugging Gavin tightly. Luckily for Gavin, his injury is on the side towards Connor, so she does not hurt him. Gavin grins brightly and Connor is suddenly frozen.

Or at least until Hank's hand claps his shoulder as Gavin and Luna talk animatedly. 

"I told you he'd wake up." Hank says smugly, looking relieved. Connor turns to him, eyes wide. 

"Hank," He says quietly, "I think I know what you mean by get my head out of my ass."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rejoice, kids! He's not dead! Also, I feel like I'm losing their characters? Like they're no longer in-character and more OOC? Idk, tell me if it is so I could try to streer this shitshow back on course. Also, give me some costructive critism if you can! Thanks! My [tumblr](https://sherlockresidue.tumblr.com/)


End file.
